He submitted it last Friday to take effect immediately.

Shire president Ian Stubbs said the council would determine, at its last meeting of the year, on December 9, whether or not to hold an extraordinary election to fill the vacancy.

The WA Electoral Commission said it would cost about $35,000 to stage one.

Mr Bromell has had two long stints away from council this year, missing 10 of the 12 general council meetings between April 22 and October 14, the last meeting before the local government election.

Cr Stubbs expressed disappointment that the shire faced an election so soon after the general one, which was held on October 17.

“One disappointing aspect is that if Ross had been considering this for some time he could have made his announcement prior to the election so that the vacancy could have been filled. Unfortunately, this is outside council’s control,” he said.

“To be an effective councillor one must commit a considerable amount of time to the task.

“It was evident over recent months that Ross was unable to make this commitment because he was unable to attend a large number of meetings.

“As a consequence I guess Ross found that he could no longer continue.

“The council will determine on December 9 whether to hold an extraordinary election or not to fill the vacancy.”

In his letter of resignation Mr Bromell said work commitments increasingly prevented him from being able to devote sufficient time to fulfil his role as a councillor to the standard the community should expect and to what he would expect of himself.

He would obviously cease to represent the council on the 2020 committee and the board of the Geographe Bay Tourism Association.

In view of the local government reform that would see a reduction in councillor numbers he would hope the vacancy created by his resignation would not be filled.

It was his wish that the shire saved money as a result of his departure.

Cr Stubbs said he didn’t believe it was necessary to fill the vacancy.

“I can’t see anything wrong in reducing the number to 12, especially keeping in mind that the State Government has indicated quite strongly it is proposing to reduce the number of councillors in two years as part of the local government process.”